Page 120 of The Murder Club

“If you wanted to hurt him, why go to so much effort?” Bailey forced herself to ask as she tugged at the handcuffs. They were stuck at her knuckles, but she was close. “Why not just kill him?”

“Because it wasn’t about Logan.” He glanced toward Lorene. “It was never about him. He was a meaningless tool to hurt the person who abandoned me.”

“Your mother.”

* * *

Dom pulled into the loading space directly in front of the nursing home, shutting off the engine before slowly crawling out of the SUV. He was running low on fuel, but he wasn’t going to worry about it until he had Bailey safely back at Kaden’s estate.

Wincing as he limped to the front door, Dom was careful not to take in a deep breath. Eventually he was going to have to get to a doctor and figure out the extent of the damage, but that was another task that could wait. Pressing the buzzer on the intercom, Dom waited for the door to be unlocked so he could step inside the lobby.

He halted and glanced around, expecting Bailey to be waiting for him. Instead, the place was eerily empty. The only person in sight was a sour-faced woman standing next to the nurses’ station. Mentally preparing himself to approach the off-putting employee, Dom was thankfully distracted as a tall woman with short, black hair and a familiar face rounded the corner and came to an abrupt halt at the sight of him.

“Dom. Hello again.” The woman flashed a wide smile.

“Hi.” Dom sifted through the memory of his first night in Pike, when he’d spotted Bailey at the Bait and Tackle with her friend. It felt like a lifetime ago. “Kari, right?”

She arched a brow. “Good memory.”

Dom shrugged. “You’re Bailey’s friend. I hope that means we’ll be friends.”

“Nice.” Kari studied him with an unnerving intensity. “You know, I never thought there would be anyone good enough for Bailey. You might just change my mind.”

“I hope so.” Dom wasn’t just saying what the woman wanted to hear. Anyone who was important to Bailey was going to be important to him. “Do you know where she is?”

“Yeah, she . . .” Kari glanced over her shoulder, her words trailing away. “Oh. She was right here. I’m not sure where she went.”

Unease pierced Dom’s heart even as he tried to tell himself that nothing could happen to her when she was in such a public place. She was surrounded by her friends and coworkers.

But the past week had taught him one thing: No one was safe in Pike. Especially not Bailey. Until she was standing in front of him, he was going to worry.

“Eric isn’t working, is he?” he abruptly demanded.

“No. I haven’t seen him.”

“What about the Donaldsons?”

Kari narrowed her eyes, her smile fading. “Is something going on? Bailey asked about them earlier.”

“Are they here?

“I haven’t seen them since Friday. What’s going on?” Kari stepped closer, lowering her voice. “You can tell me. I promise not to say a word to anyone.”

Dom cleared his throat. In his experience the people who promise not to say anything were the people guaranteed to spread gossip at lightning speed. And while word of Logan’s death would soon be making the rounds, Dom wasn’t going to be distracted by a thousand questions of what had happened.

“Where would Bailey go to wait for me to pick her up?” he instead asked.

Kari looked as if she wanted to demand answers, but she glanced at his expression and wrinkled her nose in defeat.

“She might be visiting one of the residents, but most of them are getting ready for dinner,” Kari said, pursing her lips. “My guess would be the employee break room. Follow me.”

Turning around, Kari headed past the nurses’ station, her rubber soles squeaking on the tiled floor. Within a couple of minutes they’d reached the end of a short hallway and Kari was pressing open a wooden door. Dom ground his teeth as it quickly became obvious there was only one employee inside the narrow space. A young, dark-haired woman in green scrubs who was seated at the table eating a chocolate bar as she scrolled through her phone.

“Hey, Andrea,” Kari said as the woman glanced up with mild annoyance, as if they were interrupting her. “Have you seen Bailey?”

Andrea shook her head. “Nope.”

“How long have you been in here?” Dom demanded.